


Fighting Against the Odds

by TheDragonsKnight



Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [13]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Ascians (Final Fantasy XIV), Fights, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Gen, Lightwarden Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Pain, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Spirit Animals, Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:20:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26529631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDragonsKnight/pseuds/TheDragonsKnight
Summary: 'Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, RAGE, against the dying of the light...'
Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908088





	Fighting Against the Odds

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for prompt #17 from FFXIV Write 2020

Fade - _‘an act or instance of fading’_

<Warning: Shadowbringers 5.0 MSQ Spoilers!>

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Katsum’s consciousness faded in and out against the white, burning noise of the light that clouded her vision. It was a pain unlike anything she had ever felt before, like the very roots of her soul were being drawn apart forcefully, her body fighting to hold on and very quickly losing the battle. She breathed heavily like her body was weighed down by a large rock on her back, her arms and legs shaking like leaves. The Miqo’te could barely hear what was going on around her, could only just make out the unconscious body of the Exarch - of G’raha Tia - and Emet-Selch pacing lazily towards her with a smug look of pity on his face. She could hear him speak, yet she could barely make out what was said. Only bits and pieces were clear, yet one statement rang clear when he said it.

“What a disappointment you turned out to be.”

Katsum bared her teeth, her fingers tightening into fists. She tried to move, to stand, to fight, yet her body was wracked with pain, and instead, she coughed violently, a splatter of white hitting the ground beneath her. Her mind reeled, trying to think, to find a way out and a way to remain as she was even as her body continued to crumble. Deep within, she felt a war raging and in her mind, she suddenly heard the roar of her Dravanian companion. For a moment, the severity of the pain waned, and she then knew that Raihogg had found the source and was doing what he could to stop its influence.

 _‘Set us free, Katsum! I must fight it outside of your soul or it shall surely tear us apart!’_ Raihogg’s voice echoed in her mind and she clenched her eyes shut, taking deep breaths to try and gain a stable heartbeat.

She felt the shadow of the Ascian fall on her as he knelt in front of her, “Hm,” She could hear him ponder audibly, “You still retain your form and your senses…yet you have all but become a sin eater.”

Katsum hissed as she forced the words out, opening her eyes to glare at him as the Draic necklace around her neck began to glow with the eye of Raihogg, “Not…yet!!” With every ounce of her strength, she had left she cried out, “Raihogg! With me!!!”

The familiar pull on her aether was a comfort as Raihogg’s form materialized, flying out of the necklace with a bright and blinding creature in his jaws. Katsum yelled out in pain as the light beast was torn from her body, yet it still remained connected to her being as Raihogg did, both still a part of her soul. They crashed into the tiled flooring, Raihogg throwing the writhing creature to the ground as he struggled to remain standing. The Scions and the Ascian were astounded by the great red dragon that now stood between Katsum and the creature of light, yet Raihogg’s eyes were focused on the shimmering creature, shaking himself to stand tall again and hiss with fury at his enemy. The beast of light moved unnaturally as it got to its feet, its wings stretching out and folding back as it turned its empty black eyes back at Raihogg and Katsum. Its scales were jagged and uneven, its talons longer than they should have been, and its twisted maw snarling as it too shrieked; a twisted and vile form of a dragon made sin eater.

Katsum gasped for breath as she looked up at the two dragons, her eyes meeting the terrible eater’s eyes as it hissed and moved to charge at her, yet Raihogg was quicker. He stepped between them again and crouched low before lunging at the sin eater’s throat, his jaws snapping closed just behind the beast’s skull. The sin-eater howled, the talons on its front feet slicing at Raihogg’s neck, clawing at the soft skin. Yet he moved through the pain and flew up into the air to pull the eater backward over itself, slamming it into the ground with his weight and his own talons. Its assault faltered and Raihogg released his grip on its neck to rear back with his wings unfolded and took a breath of flame. As if it had been waiting for this, the dragon sin eater’s claws lashed out at Raihogg’s soft underbelly, causing both he and Katsum too to cry out in pain. His fiery breath failed him and his strength waned just enough for the beast to push back against him and knock him off balance, sending him crashing to the ground again as the sin eater pulled itself free again, its eyes falling on Katsum again.

“So this is your beast then? The one I heard so much about from Lahabrea,” Katsum glanced around to see the Exarch’s body gone and Emet-Selch floating far above them, looking down at her with an annoyed glare, “It still won’t be enough. You do know that, don’t you? You can’t stop the inevitable.”

“You…you don’t…get to say…what my outcome shall be..” Katsum growled shakingly, “Just…watch us…and we’ll show you…how we’ll…survive this!!”

He frowned and shrugged with a sigh, “You’ll never get it, though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Yet if you wish to turn into that creature before you in dignity, away from the eyes of the world, you may come and find me in the Tempest.” He looked down at the sin eater dragon as it stalked slowly towards Katsum, its jaws open wide and its wings unfolded, “Well if you survive this that is.”

Then, in a plume of shadow, he vanished. Katsum gasped for breath as she met the creature’s eyes again, its shimmering mass towering over her now.

“KATSUM!!”

As it reared back its head, a sparking red blur shot into its side, rolling it off of its feet as Raihogg pushed it back down beneath him with his talons, staying aloft so as to not fall himself. As the sin eater turned his neck to sink its fangs into the flesh of his neck, the red dragon’s spark teeth sank into the shoulder of the beast, bright red electricity covering the two of them. The beast screamed in pain, writhing around to try and get free as Raihogg called out, _“Save her! Stop the light!”_

Katsum felt a hand on her shoulder suddenly, and she looked up to see Ryne staring at her in fear as she held out her hands and whispered, “Oracle, help me…!”

She felt the light’s pull suddenly slow, the torrent of the storm slowly calming, and the ripping of the tethers that held her soul together froze. Katsum gasped, her entire body violently shaking as she fell to the ground on her side. As her vision again faded in and out, she saw Raihogg drop the limp body of the sin eater and stagger over to her until he too fell before her with his nose touching her hand. His body was littered with gashes and wounds, yet his eyes only stared into hers as he wheezed, _“I am…sorry I could not do more, Katsum…Yet I shall not stop fighting it…until its gone. I promise…”_

She hadn’t the strength to answer, yet she knew he could hear her thoughts as a tear ran down her cheek. Her vision faded in and out again as the faces of the twins appeared beside the dragon, Alisaie patting the great dragon’s nose as he began to fade back into the necklace while Alphinaud sadly looked down at Katsum, “We’ve got you, Kat…We’ll keep you safe. Trust us.”

She hadn’t the strength to do overwise as her eyes slowly closed and she let go to fall into the darkness of unconsciousness.


End file.
